Playoff preparations

Halifax Mooseheads goalie Zachary Fucale makes a saves during a Dec. 13 home game against the P.E.I. Rocket. Fucale was the QMJHL’s first star this week. (TED PRITCHARD / Staff)

THE HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS will get another first-hand look at a playoff rival tonight at the Metro Centre.

The second-place Rimouski Oceanic are the visitors, making them the third powerhouse to cross paths with the Mooseheads in the past few weeks. The Mooseheads dropped the third-overall Blainville-Boisbriand 4-3 on Jan. 20 and edged the red-hot Baie-Comeau Drakkar 3-1 on Friday.

The Drakkar were 13-1-0-1 in the 15 games prior to the meeting with the Mooseheads and the Oceanic come to town on a 10-game winning streak.

“It was a good test in Blainville and then a good test in Baie-Comeau,” said Mooseheads head coach Dominique Ducharme. “It’s going to be a good test against Rimouski in our next game and in Moncton on Friday. We are playing the best teams in the league in those four games and we’re also playing seven games in 12 days. It’s kind of like a playoff series. We’re playing good teams the whole time and it will feel like playoff hockey so that’s good preparation for us.”

In a sadistic kind of way, Ducharme prefers to be facing the league’s top teams at this point of the season. He looks at the challenges as perfect learning opportunities prior to the playoffs, which start on March 22.

“There were a lot of things we worked on last week before the trip that we did well in those next games, mostly without the puck,” Ducharme said. “I think that work paid off. We were quicker at retrieving pucks and going on offence. We still have a few more things to work on like this to get ready for the playoffs.

“I like the way we’re polishing our game right now. We sill have about five weeks to finish that off. I like the way guys are working and the way things are going.”

Ducharme was also enthused about Zachary Fucale’s play on the weekend. The 17-year-old goalie shut out the Chicoutimi Sagueneens on Thursday and then only gave up one goal in the final minute of the game against the Drakkar. He was the first star that night and on Monday was named the league’s first star for the past week.

“I think in the last few weeks he’s been more and more consistent,” Ducharme said. “I think he’s playing his best hockey right now and that’s a great sign going towards the last stretch of the season. The closer he’s getting to the playoffs, the sharper he is getting.”

“He’s been working hard with (goalie coach Eric Raymond). It was a new situation for him a lot of times this year. He had to get used to getting (fewer) shots but he’s been more and more comfortable with that all the time.”

Forwards Ryan Falkenham (concussion) and Andrew Ryan (leg) will both miss this week’s games and likely more. Falkenham took a hit to the head in Thursday’s game in Chicoutimi and is now playing the waiting game with his symptoms.

“He’s showing signs of improvement but all you can do with those things is take it one day at a time,” Mooseheads general manager Cam Russell. “We’ve seen before that you never know how the recovery will play out so he’ll just take his time and come back when he’s ready.”

Ryan’s timeline is more defined but he is still a few weeks away from being ready to play again.

“I think he’s going to start skating next week, Monday or Tuesday,” Russell said. “I would say the target for him will be the Shawinigan-Rouyn-Val-d’Or road trip at the end of February. That will give him time to skate for a couple of weeks and then have some practice time before he gets back out there. But you never know, he could progress quicker than that. But that’s how we’re preparing right now.”